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So, after making the chai syrup I got hooked on making stuff you usually just buy in the store. Today I tried to make regular caramel sauce that is super delicious in both coffee and on cakes. Heck, I bet someone would find it delicious on bread. And the best of all, it’s super easy, and you don’t need any special ingredients; sugar, heavy whipping cream, butter, and optionally vanilla and a pinch of salt.

I skipped the two last ingredients, but I think I will make a small patch with them the next time.
First off you start with mixing all the ingredients over medium-low to medium heat. Keep stirring until all the butter has melted, before you turn up the heat to medium and have the sauce come to a boil (simmer). Let it simmer for 5-8 minutes, depending on how thick you want the sauce to be.

Let it cool down for a little bit, before you either serve it hot or pour it into a container. Keep it refrigerated when you store it, so it will last longer. This because it has cream in it, and will expire faster in the heat.

Now you have a delicious patch of caramel sauce that only has 3 (or 5) ingredients!

Fall has fully kicked in here in Norway; the trees has started to change color, and the scarves has been in frequent use. A couple of days ago there was even snowing! And for me fall time is time for cozy teas with some spices. Pumpkin spice latte, and chai latte all belong to fall time for me, but it’s hard to make them as good at home as the local coffee shop can make. One of the reasons is simply that the tea is too weak, and you end up with a tea with milk more than a latte. Being a barista, I know that in flavored lattes we use syrups to flavor the coffee or tea. So I figured I’d make some chai tea syrup. Then I know it will be natural not artificial as I have a suspicion that some of the syrups are made. And I was surprised on how easy it was!
You can either make it by mixing the original ingredients that make chai tea in the first place, or buy chai tea at a local grocery store or tea house. I did the latter, just because I found it easier (and cheaper).
So this is what you do: you mix water, chai tea and sugar, and let it boil on medium for 30 minutes ish. (Depends on the amount you make). For 1 liter of water you use 200 grams of sugar (to make it sweeter you can add a bit more). For the amount of tea, I would take around 30grams. Maybe a bit more if you like it strong.
After 30 minutes with continual-ish stirring, you pour it through a strainer into a container that can hold hot liquids.
Now it’s good for 2 months, and you only need around 2-3 table spoons per cup of latte.
Easy easy, and it’s a perfect birthday gift for someone if you have it in a cute container. And so cheap!

Update: Shake your bottle or container before use. I noticed that some of the chai sank to the bottom, so to not miss some of that heavenly chai, just lightly shake it before you start making your chai. 🙂

2nd update: If you feel like the latte you make with the syrup is “too much”, just mix in some water with the syrup. You will still taste the chai, but it won’t be so strong tasting. So this is the last time I’m writing about this syrup. Hehe. Peace out! 😎✌️

I figured that for many this time of the year people are looking for something to help organize their lives. Especially after moving to a new place, or after starting a new study, or even a new job. It’s good to have something that helps you remember all those deadlines, meetings, and study groups, and at the same time can help you be more productive. There are wonderful apps for all this, but sometimes they don’t really cut to the chase, and you end up being more drained because after two weeks in you figure out it lacks a crucial feature for you to be successful.

Well, I am here to tell you about something that has helped me tremendously since I started using it January this year. It’s called Bullet Journaling. It’s a place you can jot down everything that’s in your head, so you can focus on one thing at a time. What I love about the bullet journal is that it has no limitations other than its size. It’s possible to buy journals that come pre-printed with dates and months, but what if you then need a page to write down some notes from a meeting you where in? Or you one day didn’t do much, but it still takes up a page in your journal. Or if you are bored and you want to just scribble a drawing, you can’t really do that except for those 10 designated notes pages you find all the way to the end in your book.

With Bullet Journal you decide the layout, and you decide where the notes pages is going to be, and you decide how much you want to write down. You can customize it to fit your needs. And the best thing is that it’s a DIY! You don’t need a special book or system to make this work. Just grab a empty journal and a pen, and you’re good to go. I like to use Moleskine’s journals as I have been using them for the last 3 years.

You start your book with and Index page, and flip a couple of pages for the first month. As the months go, you can easy find where you had your science notes, or where that genius coffee shop idea was jotted down.

So yesterday I turned my iPhone in to the local Apple retailer for repairs. The 4G wouldn’t work, and it started bugging me like crazy, so I figured I would take advantage of Apple’s one year limited hardware warranty. It wouldn’t be a problem as I would get a rental phone I could use meanwhile, but apparently Apple is giving away free repairs to iPhone 5 with battery issues, so everyone is doing that right now, and all the rental phones are out and being used. “Ok” I thought to myself, “I can live a week without a phone”. Now it has been 15 hours without my phone, and I am already starting to experience withdrawals. Last night before I went to bed I wrote this:

It’s day 1, and I put my phone in for repairs for approximately 5 hours ago. It’s going pretty good. I haven’t experienced any big withdrawals yet, other than that I often find myself touching my pocket to pick up my phone, or wondering where I left my phone. Only bummer I have encountered today is that I wanted to check up a movie on IMDB I was about to watch. Just to figure out what rating it had. I ended up watching a movie which had 6 stars out of 10, something I probably wouldn’t have watched if I knew the rating ahead of time. But I can’t call this a major problem.Tomorrow the first real problems will probably occur, as I now don’t have any alarm clock to wake me up in the morning. Nor can anyone contact me while I am on this tech-fast. I hope I don’t get any phonecalls from future employers.

On the bright side I experienced this morning that I had no problems of waking up early without an alarm, and I didn’t spend an awful lot of time before I went to bed last night checking updates (eg. pinterest, facebook, snapchat, instagram, you name it) before I went to bed. I am excited to see how life is going to be different today as I have a few errands to run and some projects, and I wonder how it will affect me that Apple is showing off their new products tonight at 19:00 Scandinavian time (10:00AM PST).